Barrel heating, drying, and charring apparatus



July 2, 1929. w. w. KEMP 1.719.331

BARREL HEATING, DRYING, AND CHARRING APPARATUS Filed Dec. 2'7, 1924Patented July 2, 1929.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM WALLACE KEMP, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, ASSIGNOR TO THE C. M.

KEMP MFG. 00., OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, A CORPORATION OF MARYLAND.

BARREL HEATING, DRYING, AND CHARRING APPARATUS.

Application filed December 27, 1924. Serial No. 758,481.

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in heating, dryingand char ring apparatus, and it is to be understood that this inventionis notlimited to any particular art; but for the purpose ofillustration, and by way of example only, is disclosed herein forheating, drying or charring barrels.

An important object of my invention is to provide a device of the classdescribed embodying means for burning a flame within a sealed barrel inwhich the presence of air is negligible. For this purpose, what is knownas a self sustaining fuel is used and which contains a sufficientquantity of oxygen to be burned within a vacuum.

Another important object of the invention resides in the provision of aheater which will cause heat to flow in a continuousor circuitous pathwithin a closed receptacle.

A further essential feature of the invenl tion is to provide a device ofthe character specified includinga' heater which is automaticallyrendered operative upon proper positioning of an article in relationthereto, and which is rendered inoperative upon re moval of the objectfrom proximity to the heater. i

Vith these and other objects notspecifi ically mentioned in view, theinvention consists in certain constructions, combinations and partswhich will be hereinafter fully described and then specifically setforth in the claims hereunto appended.

In the accompanying drawings forming a a part of the application, andwherein like numerals are employed to designate like parts throughoutthe several views:

. Figure 1 is avcrtical longitudinal section of one form of my heatingapparatus."

Figure 2 is a transverse section of the same taken on line 2-2 of Figure1.

Figure 3 is an enlarged fragmentary section of the upper right handcorner of the chamber illustrated in Figure 1.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, it will be observedthat I have disclosed an apparatus especially designed for the treatmentof barrels. However, wherever the word barrel appears, it is to 'beunderstood that I do not restrict the invention to such class ofarticles; and that my invention comprehends the treatment of any articlein the manner claimed.

hereinafter Referring more particularly to Figures 1 and 2, the numeral7 designates a cylindrical oven having a closed top 8, which, as willhereinafter appear, serves as a closure for a barrel when the latter isproperly positioned for treatment. The bottom 9 of the oven is open, asillustrated,for the passage into the oven of barrels to be treated.

A treating device or heater 10 of any desired type extends into the oventhrough the closed top or closure 8, and in the present instanceconsists of a pipe depending into the oven and terminating in a burnertip 10' of any suitable construction.

This heater includes an open ended cylindrical shield 6 suspended inspaced relation to the top or closure 8 by means of a pair of brackets 5as illustrated, it being observed that the burner tip is disposedcentrally within the upper end of the shield and spaced from the sidewalls thereof. When the burner is in operation, the flame therefrom isprojected axially through the shield and creates a continuous orcircuitous flow of heat within the oven.

The burner is provided with an elbow 11, from which extends ahorizontalpipe or conduit 12, which is arranged in proximity to the top of theoven as illustrated, and terminates in a valve casing 13, in which isdisposed a normally closed valve, not shown,of any suitable type.Extending vertically from the valve casing 13 is a supply pipe 14, whichfurnishes self sustaining fuel to the burner, and tapped into thissupply pipe is a pilot pipe 15 having a regulating valvelG forcontrolling the amount of fuel passing therefrom. The pilot pipeprojects through the top of the oven whereby its dis charge end isarranged in proximity to the heater 10 to provide a pilot light. A firecheck 17 is interposed in conduit 12 to pre vent combustion of the fuelwithin the supply pipe.

- The oven 7 is supported a substantial distance above the floor bymeans of legs 18 having their upper ends offset as illustrated, to besecured to the oven at spaced points circumferentially thereof.

Projecting from the top of the oven and from the lower end thereof, atdiametrically opposite points, are pairs of vertical guides 19. It willbe observed that the upper pair of guides are arranged in verticalalignment to those extending from the lower end of the support 22 uponelevation of the same.

oven whereby a pair of vertical rods 20 may posed upwardly offsetextensions 21 of a vertically movable barrel support or closure 22 forthe oven.g As shown in Figure 1, this support is equipped with a boss orraised portion 23 which is adapted to enter and close the open bottom ofthe barrel as well as'to center thebarrel upon the support. The upperends of the rods 20 are connected by a bridging bar 24 disposed abovethe top of the-oven; Any suitable means may be provided for raising orlowering the barrel supp0rt 22, but in the present instance Thaveillus-trated such means as consisting of a cable 2 5 connected byone end to the bar 2 1 and trained over a pair of pulleys 26 snitablymounted withits other end attached to a weight 27.

The means I provide for rendering the heater operative upon positioningof the barrel within the oven by means of the vertically movable support22, consists of avertically movablepush" rod 28 slidably mounted in thearmssupporting the guides 19' at one side of the oven. The upper end ofthis push rod 28 is equipped with an enlarged head 29 which normallyrests upon the upper guide 19 and"'supports the rod,

so that the lower end of the push rod 28 is normally disposed slightlybelow the bottom of the oven for engagement with the barrel The valvewithin the Valve casing 18 is equipped wit-ha stem which depends fromthe casing'and is'disposed int hepath of movement of the push rod head29 so thatwhen the barrel support 22 engages the lower end of thepushrod and movesit vertically, the head 29 will-raise the valvestem andvalve to open the same and permit the fuel to How through "the pipe12-into the burner or water 10.

' In operation, it will be understood that the heater is inoperative,and the pilot light adjacent the heater is continuously burning. Thebarrel support 22, being disposed below the oven and in the positionillustrated in Figure 1, is in position to receive the barrel to betreated within the oven.

A headless barrel 31 is shown in the drawings, but it is to beunderstood that the apparatus described herein'is not limited to thetreatment of headless barrels alone, since obviously the barrels to betreated may be equipped with bottonrheads; but it'isnecessary that thetop heads be removed. When a headless barrelis to be subjected totreatment by the apparatus, it is placed upon the boss 23 of the barrelsupport 22 so that the boss enters and forms a closure for the bottom ofthe barrel which is retained in an upright position as illustrated. Bypulling downwardly upon the weight 27 or cable lo which it is attached,the rods 20 are moved vertically togetl1er with the barrel support andbarrel, until the latter is disposed wholly within the oven 7. As thebarrel support approaches the lower open end of the oven, it engages thepush rod 28, thereby clcvatin the same and opening the valve withincasing 18 to permit fuel to flow to the burner or heater 10 where itbecomes ignited by the pilot to create a flame or hot blast. The pushrod 28 and valve have sullicient movement upwardly to permit the barrelsupport 22 to close tightly against the open bottom of the oven whilethe open top of the barrel engages the top or closure 8.

lVhen the parts assume this position, the oven and interior of thebarrel arc substantially air-tight, and consequently, hcat from theburner will be confined and conserved. The flame from the burner 10, asstated previously, is projected longitudinally of the shield 6 andcreates a circuitous flow of heat moving through the shield, out of thelower end of the same and thence upwardly thereofto again enter the opentop of the shield. This flow constantly travels around and around in thesame path, while the burner is in operation. This heat may be employedfor cleaning barrels, i. e., removing rosin from the interior wallsthereof, or for shrinking the stavcs, or for charring the interior wallsof barrels for purposes well understood by those conversant with theart.

After the barrel has been subjected to the desiredtreatment the weight27 is lifted, thereby permitting the barrel support 22 to descend by itsown weight, and upon its initial downward movement, causes the head 29of the push rod 28 to move downwardly and permit the valve within thecasing 13 to close in order to cut off the supply of fuel to the burner.The barrel support will find rest upon the floor, at which time thetreated barrel may be replaced by one lo undergo treatment in the oven.

It is to beunderstood that I do not restrict the invention to the use ofthe particular type of heater 1O disclosed herein, since obviously thisheater may be an electric type or in fact any suitable type, although inthe present illustration I have preferred to show a type of burner whichis capable of burning self-sustaining fuel, as I have found this type tobe advantageous, in view of the fact that with self-sustaining fuel I amable to cause a flame to burn within the oven wherein there is a lack ofpresence of oxygen, :1 fl'cr the burner has been in operation for ashort interval of time. The invention also comprchends the support of aheater within the oven in any suitable manner, although it is Fill lllf)llll to be particularly understood that it is preferable to makeprovision in such a burner, whereby heat therefrom will be caused totravel in a circular path by means of a shield 6 such as disclosed, orany other arrangen'ient which will perform this function.

The self-sustaining gas which I have referred to throughout theapplication is a gas which contains in itself, only a sutlicient amountof oxygen to cause combustion of the gas Without the aid of oxygen fromany other source.

Although I have described this invention for heating, drying or charringbarrels, it is to be understood that I have called the heater 10 atreating device, since it will be obvious that instead of employing aheater 10, any other form of treating device may be substitutedtherefor, for subjecting the articles or barrels to treatments otherthan the heat treatment and accordingly it is to be understood that theappended claims are to be construed with such scope.

It is to be understood that various changes in the arrangement of theelements constituting the invention may be varied without departing fromthe scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is 1. A receptacleheater comprising a closed chamber, a burner arranged therein, and amember surrounding the burner in spaced relation and spaced from thewalls of the receptacle to induce the flow of heat in a substantiallycontinuous circuitous path within the receptacle.

2. An article heating apparatus comprising a closed chamber, a burnerpositioned therein, and an open ended tubular shield surrounding theburner in spaced relation there to, and spaced from the walls of saidchamber to create a substantially continuous circular flow of heatwithin the chamber.

3. A heating apparatus comprising a closed chamber, a burner disposedwithin the same, and an open ended tubular shield suspended within thechamber from the top thereof, and disposed in spaced relation to theburner and to the walls of the chamber to cause av substantiallycontinuous circular flow of heat in the latter.

4. An article treating apparatus comprising a chamber, treating meansarranged to operate within the same, a closure for the chamber, andmeans for controlling the operation of the treatment means upon movementof said closure to and from closed position.

5. An article treating apparatus comprising a chamber, treatment meansdisposed within the same, a supply conduit for the treatment means,valve means in said conduit, a member movably associated with thechamber, and a closure for the chamber adapted when being moved to andvfrom closed position to actuate said member to operate said valve means.

6. An article treating apparatus comprising in combination a chamberhaving an open bottom, a treating device disposed within the chamber,means for controlling the operation thereof, and a closure for said openbottom movably associated. with the chamber and adapted to operate saidcontrol means upon movement of the closure to and from closed position.

7. An article treating apparatus comprising a chamber, a treating devicearraged to operate therein, a closure for said chamber, and means forrendering the treating device operative upon positioning of the closureupon said chamber.

8. An article treating apparatus comprising a chamber, a treating'devicedisposed therein, a conduit for the treating device, valve means in saidconduit controlling the flow tl'rerethrough, a closure for said chamber,and means for opening said valve means upon positioning of the closureupon said chamber.

9. An article heater comprising a charm ber, a burner disposed therein,a fuel conduit for said burner, valve means in said conduit forcontrolling the flow of fuel, a-closure for said chamber, and saidclosure being adapted to cooperate with said valve means for opening thesame upon positioning of said closure upon said chamber.

10. In a device of the class described, a treatment chamber, a treatingdevice therein, means for controlling the operation of said treatmentdevice including a slidable member, and closure means slidablyassociated with said chamber and adapted to actuate said control meansthrough said slidably mounted member.

11. A device of the class described comprising a treatment chamberhaving an opening through which articles to be treated are inserted,treatment means in said chant her, a movable article support formingmeans for moving an article relative to said chamber and also closuremeans for said opening, and means controlling the operation of thetreatment means by movement of said article support.

12. A device of the class described comprising a treatment chamberhaving an opening through which an open ended article is inserted,treatment means in said chamber, a movable article support forming meansfor cl sing the open end of said article and the opening in said chamberas well as fori'uing means for moving said article through said openingin said chamber, and means contro ling th operation of said treatmentmeans by movement of said article support.

13. A. device of the class described comprising a treatment chamberhaving an open bottom through which articles are inserted,

till

guides extending fromopposite sides of said chamber, vertically movablerods slidably as- SOCltltGtbWltllStlld guides, an article supportsecured to said rods and adapted to fornr closure means for sa dchamber, a treatment atreatment device disposed in said chamber,-

an article support adapted to tornrclosure means for the open bottom ofsaid chamber, said article support having an offset portion,and meansfor controlling the operation of said treatment device associated withmovement of said ofi'set portion.

15. A device of the class described comprising a treatment chamberhaving an openbottom through which articles are inserted, guidesextending from opposite sides otsaid chamber, vertically movable rodsslidal'ily: associated with said guides, an article support secured tosaid rods and forming closure means for said chamber, a treatment devicein said chamber, a supply conduit for said treatment device includingvalve means for controlling th supply there through, and a rocbforactuating said valve means slidaibly associated with said guides in thepath of movement of said article support.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

WILLIAM WALLACE KEMP.

